Throwback Thursday | Sheboygan YMCA building

SHEBOYGAN - The Sheboygan Young Men's Christian Association has a history that reaches all the way back to the 1890's when Neil Campbell and Hugh Martin established the YMCA. At that time it was strictly for boys. It was a two-room affair located over the old Bank of Sheboygan Building on 8th Street, according to Sheboygan Press articles provided by Beth Dippel of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center.

The next step in the Y's evolution just before the 20th Century when they moved to a building south of the Rex Theater on 8th Street. The new location featured the first bowling alleys in the city. The new location also featured showers and a lunch counter. YMCA sponsored basketball games were held at Concordia Hall, later known as Mead Hall and more known as the old YMCA building on Ontario Avenue. Lack of funds in 1902 forced the abandonment of the second YMCA location.

In 1939, adequate financing was coupled with popular demand to bring about the re-establishment of a Sheboygan YMCA under the management of Ted Griffin. Griffin from 1939-1942 was faced with problems relating to repairs and remodeling of Mead Hall for YMCA activities, along with a sufficient membership base. In 1943 Jack Sleeper replaced Griffin and in the next eight years his management paid off the remaining mortgage on Mead Hall.

During 1944, the board of directors started the fund which would eventually build the new YMCA building along the Sheboygan lakefront. There was considerable discussion of where the new facility would be built. The contenders were locations at 7th and Ontario and the lakefront. According to current YMCA Development Director Henry Jung, the lakefront location was selected by a vote margin of only one vote. In 1946, the community responded by pledging $428,000 for the new building. Jung said that if it the 7th and Ontario location was built, it would have been a four-story structure which also had 33 resident rooms. Drawings for those plans still exist at the YMCA offices.

In the early 1950's, after the initial 1954 building of Broughton Drive location, additional fund drives included a first phase $350,000 capital campaign began.

A little more than a decade later, in 1967, the Y has yet another $330,000 capital campaign, under the leadership of Don Lohmann, which built three racquetball courts and the Paul Conrad Room.

According to YMCA Executive Director and CEO Donna Wendlandt big things happened in 1972, when during major renovations such as the J.F. Verhulst Olympic Pool, two more racquetball courts and a large gymnasium were built at a cost of $1,120,000. The new facilities were dedicated in 1974. She added that overnight rooms back in the early 1970's ran for $9.00 a night.

Gymnastics was the thrust of the next addition in 1995-96 that also included updated locker rooms and other amenities.

The building arrived at its current state in 2013 when another addition opened featuring a panoramic view of Lake Michigan for those using the Y's exercise equipment.